r/canadaguns • u/leyland1989 • Mar 21 '26
News / Politics / Activism Clarification on the RCMP's role in the Firearms Confiscation Program
We all got the email from the RCMP yesterday threating us to register our firearms but I think a lot of people here misdirected their anger to the horse police instead of the Minister of Public Safety (i.e. the Chipmunk) responsible for Public Safety Canada who initiated the Confiscation scheme.
The message yesterday was coming from RCMP's boss, i.e. Public Safety Canada. The RCMP (who administer the Canadian Firearms Program after the CFC was merged into the RCMP in 2008) is literally just the messenger here.
RCMP's own incompetence is a separate issue but in the email, they even distanced themselves from this nonsense by stating:
The Canadian Firearms Program facilitated the delivery of this notification on behalf of Public Safety Canada and has not shared or disclosed any licence holder names, addresses or personal information with Public Safety Canada. Please ensure that your email is up-to-date with the Canadian Firearms Program to receive direct ASFCP updates. Alternatively, updates will be available on the ASFCP website.
RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada act under the direction/mandate given by the Minister of Public Safety. Hate on the horse police all you want, but the anger should be directed toward the politicians who is ultimately making the call here. I felt the recent comments here are disproportionally directed toward the RCMP, distracting from the real issue being the idiotic policies pushed by the government.
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u/TheSaSQuatCh Mar 21 '26
What’s the point of your post here? Fuck the government and fuck the horse cops - we can hate on both of them equally.
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u/MourningWood1942 Mar 21 '26
Not the horses though, the horses are friend 🐴
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u/z00animal Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
Nah the horses are complicit too. They need to do their part by not letting their owners ride them.
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u/MourningWood1942 Mar 21 '26
Only the horse that bites people when the royal guard yells “GET OUT OF THE BOX MAKE WAY FOR THE ROYAL GUARD” that horse is an asshole
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u/leyland1989 Mar 21 '26
I respect democracy and I have no issues with the police (if they do their jobs right), I believe every police agencies have a role to play in a modern civil society.
In the ideal world, the RCMP is an apolitical entity, carrying out their duties independent of political influence. Their participation in this Confiscation Program is due to its obligation to their mandates as directed by the Minister of Public Safety which is a representative from the elected government.
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u/Opening_Pizza Mar 21 '26
In a perfect world yes. In reality, the RCMP are.....flawed....to be kind. This barely scratches the surface of their issues. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_surrounding_the_Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police
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u/gamercast1337 Mar 21 '26
Not to be a rude comparison for the tragedies of what these other agencies have done, but the RCMP fill a very similar role to what the SS or NKVD would do (even if they arent on the same tier), being the muscle of the party doing what needed to be done. Dont forget it was the rcmp that took part in separating the native families for the residential school program, and a bunch of other sketchy shit too from out in the open to secret stuff. Wait until they become thought police soon with all the authoritarian shit being passed, then the SS/NKVD comparisons will be even more valid.
And yes they do general bullshittery with the firearms stuff. Its their direction from the liberal government (they are the MUSCLE of the will of the government afterall!!!!!). Are all rcmp officers bad? No of course not, they save people every day, stop crime etc etc but when given the directive to collect the firearms, arrest the thought criminals, trample protesters of this new regime and rip apart families for the crime of your race and heritage....
how many cops will fight agaisnt those orders? How many will do it with smiles on their faces, getting overtime? How many will do it begrudgingly because its one of the few actually good paying jobs left in this country thats not difficult to get? How many will do it just because its their job? How many will put their arms down and rebel, either by not doing it or actively rebel agaisnt such orders? History has a good suggestion on what the answer is.
Again not all cops, we DEFINITELY need cops as the criminals get more bold every day (due to the.... oh look at that the liberal government is the cause for it!) And we need trained professionals who can be a protector, give basic medical, investigate and more. But criticism of the RCMP is absolutely valid as they are a national organization... an armed national organization.
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u/Lumindan Mar 21 '26
In the ideal world, the RCMP is an apolitical entity, carrying out their duties independent of political influence.
Yeah that's never going to happen. They know who pays them.
Their participated in this Confiscation Program is due to its obligation to their mandates as directed by the Minister of Public Safety which is a representative from the elected government.
Just following orders has not been historically a good excuse.
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u/leyland1989 Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
They follow orders from a democratically elected government. I'd be more worried if they "go rouge" and act on their own initiative?
It's the price we pay for democracy for the better or worse.
The government (and the people who elected it) is to blame here.28
u/Sea_Risk_8771 Mar 21 '26
You’re new here. They do go rogue. 10/22 mags, Swiss arms …got a lot to learn.
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u/CatchADeffaz Mar 21 '26
Didnt they target homes that they knew were lived in by pal owners during some flood?
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u/EnvironmentBright697 Mar 22 '26
They broke into gun owners homes, busted open their safes and stole their guns during the High River, Alberta floods.
Fuck the RCMP (this is a satirical comment. Due to Bill C-2 and Bill C-8, I hereby deem this comment to be satirical for entertainment purposes only).
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u/Lumindan Mar 21 '26
I don't understand why you're trying to carry water for the RCMP.
Did we forget how badly they screwed in the past? Those firehalls didn't shoot themselves up. They sat on evidence for years and let NS2020 happen. They're part of the reason why the Liberals are able to vilify legal firearms owners. Don't try to brush the blame away.
The Liberals set policy but the RCMP aren’t mindless drones. They’re actively designing, coordinating, and implementing enforcement including being a central part of the firearms confiscation program. They can choose to not listen to orders, they don't. They get their fat budget and use copy pasted lists from Poly.
They decide how hard to push, what to prioritize, and how to interpret all the vague, rushed rules coming out of parliament. That’s real power and real responsibility. So no, it’s not “all on the government.”
The Liberals own the policy and are at fault but the RCMP absolutely owns how it’s being carried out.
If you’re participating in enforcement, you don’t get to wash your hands of the outcome.
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u/leyland1989 Mar 21 '26
I don't disagree with you at all here, the commissioner position is a political appointment after all. They tend to appoint someone politically aliened with the government.
However, in our political system, the elected government always get the final say even if the experts or anyone down the chain say otherwise. I felt the recent comments here are disproportionally directed toward the RCMP, distracting from the real issue being the idiotic policies pushed by the government. Hence I made this post.
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u/Lumindan Mar 21 '26
You’re half right and then you use that to dodge half the responsibility. The government has final say and The Liberals owns the policy. But you’re downplaying the role of the RCMP like they’re just a rubber stamp, which isn’t how this works in reality.
The commissioner being a political appointment actually strengthens the point, not weakens it. It means the leadership is aligned with the government and directly shaping how these policies get rolled out on the ground.
So which is it? Are they a non-partisan group who isn't beholden to the government or are they dogs on a leash?
So when people criticize the RCMP, it’s not a distraction at all, It’s acknowledging that bad policy and aggressive or unquestioning enforcement is what actually creates the real-world outcome.
Blaming only the government is like blaming the architect but pretending the construction crew had zero role in how the building turned out.
Both matter. Both are accountable.
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u/leyland1989 Mar 21 '26
I suppose we should be able count on the strong leadership from the RCMP to stand their ground to oppose the Government's idiots.
Unfortunately this is to much to ask.
So yes, I agree they are both accountable.5
u/Lumindan Mar 21 '26
I suppose we should be able count on the strong leadership from the RCMP to stand their ground to oppose the Government's idiots.
Unfortunately we're well beyond that point. The rot runs so deep you'd need to purge it all and reset it. No one bats an eye when the RCMP loses hundreds of rifles a year and botches multiple cases.
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u/Jaded-Juggernaut-244 Mar 21 '26
They do go rogue...see my reply to you above. You haven't been around as long as some of us. That's OK. Better to just listen and ask than make declarations you don't actually know are accurate. Things SHOULD be far better than they are. But, they aren't and we have unelected bureaucrats (RCMP) making changes to regulations that criminalize lawful gun owners. This, unfortunately, is not new to the people in this community.
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u/chickenmcbro Mar 22 '26
If the RCMP is ordered to perform raids to extract firearms from RPAL holders (since their stuff is registered and the RCMP knows they still have them) who haven't turned their guns in by the end of the amnesty, im sure they'd simply say the classic, "I was just following orders". Make no mistake, the RCMP are not your friends and if the choice is between no knock raids that could end in civilian death or losing their jobs, they'll choose whichever path keeps food on their tables.
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u/DougMacRay617 Mar 21 '26
What am i missing here? Whats the point of this post exactly? To remind us that The rcmp are still by and large incompetent government goons that do as they are told?
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u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25 Mar 21 '26
OP only had his PAL for 5 months, so the novelty effect of belonging to this community hasnt fully wore off yet! 😉
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u/leyland1989 Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
Lol, call me naive but I have no issues with the police (yet?)
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u/goshathegreat Mar 21 '26
Brother, the police are not your friends, especially the RCMP. They will be the ones knocking on your door when push comes to shove…
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u/leyland1989 Mar 21 '26
Never said they were my friends, I'd prefer we mind our own business, they go catch criminals and leave me alone. Hence I said I don't have any issues with the police (yet?)
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u/Jaded-Juggernaut-244 Mar 21 '26
The RCMP has unlawfully kept the old long gun registry, and they accessed and used the long gun registry information to seize firearms in High River, AB in 2014.
They have actively reclassified non-restricted and restricted firearms and accessories to prohibited status over the years. Leaving lawful owners in limbo or in legal jeopardy. Disgusting behavior.
This is apart from the current gun bans. It is in itself a very large problem, where unelected bureaucrats essentially criminalize gun owners by way of regulation without legislation making its way through Parliament.
You can (and should) argue that our elected MP's should undo those powers, and they are to blame for allowing it to remain as such. However, one can certainly blame the RCMP for exercising their power on an arguably innocent demographic in an ignoble and draconian fashion. Both are true at the same time.
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u/goshathegreat Mar 21 '26
So you don’t have an issue with the RCMP reclassifying an NR shotgun as prohibited just a few weeks ago?
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u/leyland1989 Mar 21 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
Not trying to defend the horse police any further but the RCMP does an examination, and gives a recommendation to Public Safety Canada (which they can absolutely ignore) and the OIC who then determines the classifications.
Anyway, we can all agree to disagree on RCMP's role in this and ultimately I'm not trying to say the RCMP is innocent or the good guy here, I just felt like the government is intentionally put the RCMP in the spotlight to distract the options away from themselves (the elected MPs).
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u/AdeptArt Mar 22 '26 edited Mar 22 '26
This isn’t even true all of the time. The RCMP has reclassified stuff to prohibited FRT that weren’t even part of the OIC. And they do that when regular gun owners don’t have access to an up to date FRT database.
edit: I want you to argue your position in light of the ATRS Modern Sporter. Explicitly stated in the FRT to being not an ar variant and NR, and not prohibited by any OIC, yet RCMP went back and deemed it an AR variant after the fact and changed the status to prohibited.
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u/boozefiend3000 Mar 21 '26
They’re all to blame. Don’t take a job enforcing the states bullshit 🤷🏻♂️
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u/ShallotSolid7803 Mar 22 '26
Nah, the horsecops deserve any and all anger directed at them. They have bungled so, so much.
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u/Bulld4wg45 Mar 21 '26
Who are the specific people pushing these laws? I’m surprised they don’t get hassled in person every day.
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u/xxxbewrightxxx Mar 22 '26
While I believe you are mostly correct, there’s plenty of blame to go around and the RCMP has done their fair share. They add to the list of banded firearms either at their discretion or endorse others requests justified or not.
They’ve also turned a blind eye to widely held belief of government corruption and foreign interference. The RCMP are not innocent and just following orders.
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u/Everlovin Mar 21 '26
If you want to push back on the federal government, you always have to shoot the messenger, metaphorically of course. There’s no other way to be heard.
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u/DrumsticknDrumstick Mar 21 '26
what's with the threats? didn't they say participation is optional?
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u/GonZo_626 Mar 21 '26
Its "optional" as in you have 3 options.
1 - register and hand firearms in for an undisclosed amount of money and hand them in or disable them
2 - dont register your firearms for an undisclosed amount of money and hand them in by Oct. 30th
3 - risk becoming a criminal
Thats the "optional" part, give us you guns or become a criminal are the "options". At this point it appears that most Canadian firearms owners are giving them the finger and going for options 2 or 3 given that the last number I heard was 46,000 registered firearms in the program. Given that there is 130,000 or so former restricteds that they know we have and they dont even have half that amount even with the former non-restricted firearms. Stand strong my fellow owners
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u/Ok_Committee464 Mar 22 '26
All cops are bastards. It’s the only left ideology I really agree with.
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Mar 27 '26
and therefore i don’t waste my money and have to get rid of them. I hunt with hunting bolt rifles.
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u/FedInformant Mar 30 '26
You can do more with firearms than hunt once a year.
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Mar 30 '26
Think long and hard about your statement. This is where the problem is. It begins when you start thinking that a firearm is a toy.
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Mar 27 '26
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